Playing Software: Homo Ludens in Computational Culture

Description

The play element at the heart of our interactions with computers—and how it drives the best and the worst manifestations of the information age. Whether we interact with video games or spreadsheets or social media, playing with software shapes every facet of our lives. In Playing Software, Miguel Sicart delves into why we play with computers, how that play shapes culture and society, and the threat posed by malefactors using play to weaponize everything from conspiracy theories to extractive capitalism. Starting from the controversial idea that software is an essential agent in the information age, Sicart considers our culture in general—and our way of thinking about and creating digital technology in particular—as a consequence of interacting with software’s agency through play. As Sicart shows, playing shapes software agency. In turn, software shapes our agency as we adapt and relate to it through play. That play drives the creation of new cultural, social, and political forms. Sicart also reveals the role of make-believe in driving our playful engagement with the digital sphere. From there, he discusses the cybernetic theory of digital play and what we can learn from combining it with the idea that playfulness can mean pleasurable interaction with human and nonhuman agents inside the boundaries of a computational system. Finally, he critiques the instrumentalization of play as a tool wielded by platform capitalism. Contents Preface 0. Start 1. Playing Defining Play, Again (This Won’t Be the Last Time) Software Agents Playing Software 2. Interfaces Thinking the Interface First Steps The Practice of Playing Software Video Games as (Interface) Practices Loving the Alien The Play Interface 3. Playthings Theoretical Background AI Is a (Play) Thing Relationality and the World Thinking about Things Things We Play With Software as Plaything 4. Personalities A Question of Attitude Tell Me How You Feel Pretending Software Pretending and Making Pretense Personalities and Playthings Worlds of Make-Believe 5. Systems Cybernetics and Entropy Systems and Game Design Closed Worlds and the Dangers of Playing Software A Most Dangerous . . . ​ Game? World Traveling in the Information Age 6. Capital Captured at Play Playful Capitalism Play as Heteromatic Ghost Work World Traveling in Capitalism 7. Endings Notes Chapter 0 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Bibliography Index